Lena Horne Theatre
256 West 47th Street | Times Square | built 1926
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1926
Irwin Chanin names his new theater for the actor Richard Mansfield, whose words he remembered from student days
The Chanin Organization built the Mansfield as Irwin Chanin's third Broadway theater in as many years, and named it for the matinee idol Richard Mansfield, an unusual choice. The idea went back to Chanin's days at Cooper Union, when he heard Mansfield talk about how actors are forgotten. Mansfield's widow wrote to thank him in a letter dated January 8, 1926, which was widely publicized.
- 1926
The Mansfield opens with The Night Duel, its interior shaped with help from a former tsarist decorator
The theater opened on February 15, 1926, with The Night Duel, and many early shows ran briefly because of adventurous programming. Herbert Krapp's design had slim arched windows, a cornice that juts outward and a roof of Spanish tile. Chanin brought in Roman Melzer, once architect and decorator to Czar Nicholas II, as a consultant, and the interior got a series of murals that were rare in theaters built on speculation in the 1920s.
- 1928
Lew Fields leases the Mansfield and makes his last stage appearance in Hello, Daddy
The veteran comedian Lew Fields, half of the Weber and Fields team, leased the Mansfield between April 1928 and March 1929, late in his career. He produced and acted in several plays there. One of them, Hello, Daddy, was the show in which he made his final stage appearance.
- 1930
The Green Pastures brings the Mansfield major success with an all-Black cast
After a string of adventurous but short-lived shows in the late 1920s, the Mansfield found major success in 1930 with Marc Connelly's The Green Pastures. The play won a Pulitzer Prize for Connelly, its author and director. With an all-Black cast, the play ran for 640 performances.
- 1931
The Group Theatre, founded in 1931, brings a number of its productions to the Mansfield
The Group Theatre was founded in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg, who left the Theatre Guild over its apolitical stance. A number of its productions played the Mansfield. The company was the first to present work by Clifford Odets and Marc Blitzstein, and it helped the careers of Stella and Luther Adler, John Garfield, Franchot Tone and Elia Kazan.
- 1944
Anna Lucasta, with Hilda Simms and Canada Lee, opens and runs 957 performances
Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta, a Black variation on the Anna Christie theme, opened at the Mansfield in August 1944. Hilda Simms and Canada Lee starred. The play ran 957 performances, closing in November 1946, and it was followed by Ruth Gordon's autobiographical comedy Years Ago with Frederic March, staged by Garson Kanin.
“Anna Lucasta, Philip Yordan's black variation of the Anna Christie theme starring Hilda Simms and Canada Lee, ran 957 performances from August 1944 to November 1946.”
- 1950
CBS leases the theater as Studio 59, home to What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret
In August 1950 CBS took a five-year lease on the Mansfield at a low yearly rent, and in the end kept the building for a decade. As CBS Studio 59 it was the broadcast home of the panel games What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret. The network also staged Showcase there, which presented actors in brief clips.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1960
The theater is renamed for Brooks Atkinson, the first Broadway house named for a theater critic
In mid-1960 the producer Michael Myerberg said the old Mansfield would be renovated and returned to live theater, and it took the name of Brooks Atkinson, who had just retired as The New York Times drama critic. It was the first Broadway theater named for a critic. The renaming ceremony took place on September 7, 1960, and the first production, Vintage '60, opened five days later.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1971
Cliff Gorman wins a Tony Award as Lenny at the Brooks Atkinson
In 1971 Cliff Gorman played the title role in Lenny at the Brooks Atkinson and won a Tony Award for the performance. The theater had another long success later in the decade with Same Time, Next Year, which prospered there for 1,444 performances between 1975 and 1978. Jack Lemmon in Tribute and the British comedy Bedroom Farce followed in the late 1970s.
“Cliff Gorman won a Tony Award for his memorable performance in the title role of Lenny (1971).”
- 1976
The Brooks Atkinson celebrates its 50th birthday ten months late because nobody noticed the date
The theater, which had opened on February 15, 1926, marked its 50th anniversary in December 1976, about ten months after the actual date. Nobody had noticed the anniversary beforehand. At the time the house was playing Same Time, Next Year, the two-character comedy that opened there in 1975 and moved to another theater in May 1978.
“The theater celebrated its 50th anniversary in December 1976, ten months after the actual anniversary, because no one had noticed the date beforehand.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
Five years after its hearings, the city designates the Brooks Atkinson Theater as a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Brooks Atkinson Theater a landmark on November 4, 1987. It had held hearings on June 14 and 15, 1982, and continued them on October 19, 1982. Eighty people testified or had statements entered in favor and two spoke against, while the owner said he had not formed an opinion.
“Eighty witnesses spoke or had statements read into the record in favor of designation. Two witnesses spoke in opposition to designation.”
- 1988
Theater owners sue to overturn the landmark designations of 22 Broadway houses, including the Brooks Atkinson
In June 1988 the Nederlanders, the Shuberts and Jujamcyn sued the Landmarks Preservation Commission to overturn the designations of 22 theaters, among them the Brooks Atkinson. They argued that landmark status severely limited how the theaters could be altered. The case went to the New York Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the designations were upheld in 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2022
The Nederlanders rename the Brooks Atkinson for Lena Horne, Broadway's first theater named for a Black woman
In June 2022 the Nederlander Organization said it would rename the Brooks Atkinson for the singer and actress Lena Horne, whose 1981 Broadway show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, part of her long relationship with the Nederlanders, won her a Tony and two Grammys. The theater became the first on Broadway named for a Black woman. Its new marquee was unveiled on November 1, 2022.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Lena Horne TheatreWikipedia
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